For the first time, the heroic students who helped take down an active shooter that killed a beloved professor and community member at Old Dominion University are telling their story, recounting the harrowing events of that day.
Mohamed Jalloh, a man previously convicted of providing material to support the Islamic State terror group, opened fire at the university on Thursday, March 12, killing one and injuring two others.
Jalloh was pronounced dead at the scene on Thursday when officers arrived.
Beloved professor of military science Lt. Col. Brandon Shah was killed. FBI Special Agent in Charge Dominique Evans told reporters that the students in the room during the incident “subdued” the gunman.
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Students involved in the incident reflected on that day, saying it was a day like any other.
During the class period, a student said a man they didn’t recognize, later identified as Jalloh, walked into the classroom and repeatedly and nervously asked if this class was ROTC.
“I wasn’t thinking about what that question really meant,” said Cadet Louis Ancheta.
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As Shah confirmed the class was ROTC, Cadet Wesley Myers, who was in class that day, said Jalloh shouted “Allahu Akbar” and began shooting at Shah.
Instincts immediately kicked in and Shah lunged toward the gunman, according to the students.
As Shah wrestled with the gunman, Ancheta leaped into action, taking a pocket-knife and repeatedly stabbing Jalloh.
“If he didn’t lunge at him, I wouldn’t be here right now,” said Cadet Jah-Ira Utarte, who was sitting in the front row of the classroom at the time, said in an interview released by the Department of War. “There’s a possibility he could’ve turned his gun and I could’ve been next.”
Ancheta said during the fighting between his professor and the gunman, he was shot by a stray bullet.
“It really didn’t feel like it hit me,” Ancheta said. He continued to attempt to subdue the gunman alongside Shah and other cadets jumped in.
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Once the gun was away from Jalloh, Cadet Jeremy Rawlinson said they immediately switched to combat care.
“It just was what I felt I had to do in that moment, to get there and do what I could,” Myers said. “It’s different when it’s not a mannequin and it’s your friend.”
Cadet Samuel Reineberg said he was “like a laser beam” to Shah, who had been shot in the chest.
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It wasn’t until later that day, the students found out about Shah’s death.
“There was definitely a sense of, ‘could we have done more?’” Cadet Oshea Bego said.
Shah is regarded as a hero among his students.
“[Shah] used the last of his strength to tackle that guy and it gave us just enough time that we needed to be able to get on [the gunman],” Rawlinson said.
“One of the last things he told my mom when they met this summer was that he would take care of me. He followed through on that word,” Bego said.
“We’re not even commissioned yet and we’re dealing with these threats and pretty much unprecedented attacks,” Bego said.
Brian O. Hemphill, the president of ODU, said the university will be conducting an independent review following the incident in a statement on Thursday. Hemphill described the shooting as a “defining moment” in the university’s history.
“This is not merely a procedural step; it is a moral imperative to ensure the safety and security of every member of our campus community remains first and foremost,” Hemphill said in the statement.
The review will examine “critical procedures,” “overall preparedness” and “[the university’s] response,” according to the release.
